


Exchange

by Work_In_Progress



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 04:43:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21191756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Work_In_Progress/pseuds/Work_In_Progress
Summary: Imra offers a way for Kara to be happy.





	Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> I own none of these characters. 
> 
> This is a complete divergence from Canon... maybe even AU territory. Imra is in the past with Mon-El, but there is no mention on anything else from that story-line. 
> 
> No beta so all mistakes are mine. Thanks!

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose and tried (very hard) not to fall asleep where she stands. She estimates that she’s been awake now for well over the 36 hour mark. She is finally ready to relent and go sit in the sun room to catch some sleep, now that Kara is finally stable. All Alex has to do now is wait for the blonde to wake up. She straightens as she hears an accented voice from the doorway. The brunette squints slightly as she shakes her head to clear the haze.

“Ah, Agent Danvers… Alex. I’m so glad I caught you. Agent Vasquez voiced concern that you may have gone to rest.”

“Imra. What can I do for you?”

“Oh Agent Danvers, I’m here for what I can do for you…and Supergirl.”

Alex looked at the other women, her stance taking on a defensive poster instinctively as she mentions Supergirl. “Supergirl is resting, the residual effects of the plasma gun have been counteracted. Thank you for you help, but we-“

“Oh Alex, you don’t understand at all, I’m not talking about this week, I’m talking about every week after.” Imra smiles, her grin looking slightly predatory.  
Alex leaned back on her cluttered workbench and rubbed her temples tiredly. “Ok? I’m sorry but I don’t think I understand.”

Imra seemed to gravitate towards Alex, the distance between them disappearing quickly. She is only a few steps away by the time she speaks again. “You know, when Mon-El arrived, he was heartbroken to find that Supergirl had just…vanished. He thought maybe she would be there, J’onn certainly was. He researched and researched, and finally pestered J’onn enough to get answers. All he would say, was that Supergirl had lost her great love, and afterwords disappeared.”

Alex’s back was straight again, her shoulders tense and eyes clear. “What do you mean she disappeared? What happened to her?”

“Mon-El didn’t think he would ever see her again, but now here we are.” Imra continued, completely ignoring Alex’s interruption and seeming unconcerned with Alex’s skyrocketing anxiety. 

The agent took a deep breath and a moment to process. She was, after all, running on very little sleep and even less patience. “Do you-do you know when she disappears?”  
“The news report was in five days time.”

Alex leaned heavily against the table behind her. Mon-El and Imra would be leaving in four days. Kara was going to go missing between now and one day after, the timeframe could not just be coincidental. “But Kara Danvers-“

Imra smiles again, “Also missing. She lost her great love, and then she was gone.” The alien reaches out a hand to grab Alex’s arm lightly. The brunette tenses at the contact but doesn’t pull away.

“What does that mean?”

“Imagine my surprise… I learned about Earth as a child, looked in to the first acknowledgement of Aliens. We learned about Heros… I’ll admit I was a bit of a Supergirl Fan Girl myself… Then Mon-El, an actual link to her… And after that, the more I learned I started to see the Hero behind the cape.”

Alex’s brows are scrunched, and she’s looking at Imra in assessment. Imra has never acted as if she was overly interested with Supergirl…” Kara-“

Imra lets out an amused laugh. It sounds like something from a movie, light and airy and Alex is more confused now then ever. She moves her arm away from Imra’s grasp and crosses her arms across her chest. “No no Agent Danvers, I’m talking about you.”

“What?” Alex can feel the look of shock that must be exceedingly obvious on her face.

“It was harder to learn about the Secret Agent, Scientist, Friend…But I’ll admit, I was determined, and it paid off over time.”

“Um…Thank you? I think… But what does this have to do with Kara? You think you can keep Supergirl from disappearing?

Imra’s grin widens showing her perfect rows of white teeth. Her eyes are sparkling in mirth, and Alex is becoming visably more frustrated and lost by the moment.  
“How? Are you even sure she didn’t just go into hiding? You said it yourself, you don’t know what happened to her.”

“Doubtful, there were events between your time and ours… I don’t believe she would have remained hidden.”

“So you think that what? She dies?”

Imra drops her smile, but shakes her head and leans back against the opposite metal table. “I Doubt that, I think that there would be record if that were true. I think that she lost her lover, and left this planet behind.”

Alex grits her teeth. She doesn’t believe that Kara would just abandon her family, Earth… Alex… But she had almost left her family before to leave and live with Clark… And she had been beyond upset when she lost Mon-El the first time… Now, even Alex could admit that Mon-El had grown up in his time away, but he had also gotten married… to Imra.

“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me. If you’re upset that Kara isn’t over Mon-El, well obviously that-“

“You don’t understand Alex. I love Mon-El, he’s a good man… But I’m willing to release him of his obligations… Kara and her love reunited. Supergirl would have no reason to leave, she would never disappear…”

“Wait…What?”

“I’m willing to let Mon-El stay…here…in this time. I can see he stills loves her, who am I to stand in the way of Supergirl’s happiness?”

“I-“ Alex starts, stops to rub her eyes, again. “I’m sorry… I’m just a little confused. You are going to leave your HUSBAND here, in this time, because you are secretly a superfan?”

“Well No, I want to make an exchange.”

Alex’s brows could not possibly scrunch together anymore. None of this seems to be sinking into her brain properly. Imra takes the moment of further confusion and closes the distance between them. Alex has nowhere to go as she reaches arm distance.

“What is it you want Imra?”

“Oh Alex, not a what. A who. I will leave Mon-El here, Kara and he can renew their love story… No great heartbreak for Supergirl and another Hero here to protect her. Everyone ends up with what they really want.”

Alex looks at her, attempts to gauge her honesty. Whatever she wanted… if it was for Kara, Alex would do her best to do it. A heartbreak so great that she would leave everyone she cared for, would leave and abandon Eliza? J’onn? Herself? It sent an ache through her chest. Kara would abandon Alex and probably even Earth? There was also the terrible thought that Kara disappeared for darker reasons… but no, they had let slip that J’onn was in this future, and if he hadn’t told them, she couldn’t imagine that she could have died. She can’t believe he wouldn’t fight to change that. Apparently Imra thought that Alex’s lack of a comprehension was amusing, because she was smiling again.

“You Alex. I’ll admit the more I tried to help Mon-El find out what had befallen Supergirl the more I discovered that the real heroics… well those were from behind the scenes.”  
Alex was shocked into silence. Imra reached up to brush some hair behind the Agent’s ear, the touch jolting Alex into motion. She quickly pulled away from the hand. “What? Me?”

“Oh Alex, you really don’t see how extraordinary you are. You’ve lived in Kara’s shadow… but it’s really you who is the marvel. I’ve read your research, seen your work, investigated your personnel files…”

“You want me to leave? With you? I can’t just leave my family… my friends…” She left the ‘Kara’ unsaid, but it hung heavy in the room.

Imra’s look became more serious, she took a step back. “You can Alex. They don’t appreciate you, all you do for them! You could have had an amazing life of recognition and instead you’ve been shut away!” Imra motioned around at the messy lab,”You’re locked away in this cave, and it’s to protect a woman who would be completely ordinary if it wasn’t for the yellow sun!” 

“Woah! First off, you don’t know Kara at all! If you did you wouldn’t be saying that!”

Imra took a deep breath and held it for a moment. “Let me know what you decide. We leave in four days. I hope you consider it Alex. You deserve so much more then this,” She stepped forward quickly and brushed her hand across Alex’s cheek gently, then turned and left the lab.

Alex slid to the floor and put her head in her hands. Leave? Leave her mother, leave her life, leave Kara? It sounded as if Kara would be gone anyway… Alex could leave, or Kara would. And Imra? Imra wanted her, would trade Kara’s happiness for Alex? In the end what choice did she have? Winn would be going as well. She stopped thinking and willed her hands to stop shaking. She had three days to get things in order, but first she was going to try to nap in the sunroom until Kara woke up.

\----------------------

Alex had spent the last few days getting ready. She had phoned her mother, told her she would be away for some time. She left a note for J’onn to give to Eliza afterwords. She had also left notes for J’onn (Although she was sure he already knew, he had hugged her twice today) and one as well for Kara. She wished she could properly say goodbye to Kara, but it would be better if she didn’t know until after. Mon-El knew, she could see it on his face as he told Kara he was staying…And maybe it was better this way…with no Maggie to distract her, and the acknowledgement that she was less then straight… well she had been doing a lot of soul searching and had finally figured out why her imaginary future children always had blonde hair and blue eyes. It had been an unwelcome revelation… it was for the best that Kara was off with Mon-El somewhere and no where near close enough to say goodbye.

With one final deep breathe she stepped into the chamber and turned to look at Imra as she started the controls for stasis. The glass frosted and there was a sense of cold, and then her eyes were coming open again to a grinning Imra with a hand outstretched. “Welcome to the future Alex Danvers.” And she reached forward and brushed her lips across Alex’s knuckles.

The future indeed.

Fin… jk  
\----------------------  
(FUTURE)

It was as they stepped out of the ship with Winn that the excitement really started. Imra was walking near her, hand brushing Alex’s as they stepped onto the ground. Or.. more accuretley it WAS brushing Alex’s, because the next second there was a blur and a thump and suddenly Imra was across the bay and Winn was squeaking.

Alex was still trying to gather her bearings as she rolled out of the way on instinct and pulled Winn to the ground before she noticed who was standing on the platform, breaths heavy and angry eyes turned towards a still downed Imra.

“Kara? Kara!” Alex was so relieved, she would get the future and Kara as well… or she WAS relieved until Kara was suddenly hauling her upright and very much in her personal space. 

“You…. IDIOT? How could you do that?!”

“Wha-?”

The blonde was obviously furious, her eyebrows scrunched and her fist that wasn’t wrapped around Alex’s arm was clenched. The hold on her arm was bordering painful, but Alex didn’t care.

“How could you think for one second that leaving was a good idea? And you!” She swung her gaze back to a still disoriented Imra who was making her way back towards them. “You can’t pawn off your husband and expect me to trade him for Alex? WHO DOES THAT? You better stay over there or so help me Rao…I will not be held responsible.”

“Kara! You’re here, you’re fine…” Alex was so relieved to see her she could feel the tears forming. Kara had made it, she was ok and here and… wait…Alex glanced down, Kara was just Kara, worn jeans and t-shirt, hair pulled back in a messy bun but lacking her normal glasses. It was strange because it looked almost like what she had been wearing the day Alex left… and about leaving, if Kara was here then she had gotten Alex’s note all those years ago and that meant that she knew that… oh boy, this was embarrassing. How did one tell their foster sister they were sorry for telling them that they were in love with them? “We changed the future then. You’re here and you’re safe.”

“Um… No, you didn’t.” came a familiar voice from off to the side, and Alex glanced away from electric blue eyes to a very welcome green form.

“J’onn!” The brunette called in excitement. “But-“

The blonde dropped her arm and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

\-------------------------  
(PAST)

The blonde stormed through the halls, note scrunched in her hand and eyes flashing.

“That IDIOT!” echoed down the halls as she made it to the door, scanned her palm, and stepped through the door. “Of all the stupid, stupid, bad ideas.”

The blonde ignored the pounding on the door and the muffled cries from Mon-El on the other side. She stepped up to the pod, climbed inside, and punched in the numbers she needed. J’onn would take care of the rest.

\------------------------  
(FUTURE)

“….Oh.”

“Yes. Oh.” The blonde responded sarcastically.

“So… you’ve been in stasis this whole time in the pod then…?”

“Yes.”

“So… I didn’t change the future at all?” Alex was feeling more sheepish by the second.

“No.”

“But I thought that you disappeared because you lost your-“

Kara’s eyes finally softened and she let out an exasperated sigh. “I did.” She said confidently, stepping directly up to Alex and crashing their lips together.

Alex is vaguely aware of Imra complaining loudly, Winn screaming in excitement, and J’onn’s deep voice. She is much more focused on the hand that has slid into the back of her hair, the press of Kara’s body on hers, and the soft lips that are currently sending shockwaves through her system.

Well so far, the future is awesome.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Comments and critiques welcome.


End file.
